


fair is the moonlight and fair is the woods

by literaryFRIVOLOUSneophyte



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: F/F, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Nymphs & Dryads, Supernatural Elements, Water Spirit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 14:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1432579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literaryFRIVOLOUSneophyte/pseuds/literaryFRIVOLOUSneophyte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Éponine is a dryad, a spirit inhabiting a tree, and Cosette is a naiad, a water nymph.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fair is the moonlight and fair is the woods

**Author's Note:**

> this is pretty much a very vague romance between a water spirit and an invisible tree spirit.  
> inspired by this poem http://saltvwater.tumblr.com/post/79606035166/fair-is-the-moonlight-and-fair-the-wood-but-not

Pale moonlight pierced the darkness and fell at the feet of the sparkling river. In the dark, the sounds of the chirping crickets and the gurgling water guided the traveler's way.

Brown became black in the night, and white became gray. Her hair floated like a gossamer silver web down her back, free as the white-tipped waves of the ocean. Her bare feet melted into the dirt as she stepped across branches and roots with the grace of someone who knows where they are heading.

The forest stood, alive and breathing, every leaf watchful in the pitch black and every blade of grass tuned into the very rotation of the planet, around the wanderer. She sat down at the bank of the river, and she did not bother to gather her dress up away from the mud.

Recent rain showers had left the ground wet and the air damp, but she did not seem to mind the heavy aroma of the woods, strong near the source of water. She took a deep breath and smiled.

“Cosette,” the trees cried out. She stared behind her, and the branches swayed against the backdrop of the starry night sky. The lights of the universe looked out like yellow eyes from between the dark fingers of the trees.

“Cosette,” the trees called once more. The girl stood up, and she walked over to the line of trees.

Cosette lifted a hand and placed it on the bark of one in front of her. The forest swooned at the touch, but it seemed to recollect it senses quickly, edging closer in the shadows to seem more fierce and terrible.

Cosette took a wreath of flowers from out of her pockets; it was incomplete and did not meet at the ends. The chain was made of patterns of red and white camellias with delicate petals brushing hands with each other, but the roses on the end of each chain did not meet.

Cosette hugged the base of a large, black tree and put together the garland around its trunk. She twined the pieces together, and there was a crown of flowers for the tree she had picked out.

The soft breeze cooed in her ears as she stepped away and disappeared into the woods. 

Her footsteps, light as before, guided her back to the mouth of the river. The whispers of the inciting woods were left behind her in the lucid moonlight and the paling dark. The night creatures shuffled behind her, as if to push her out or to pull her back in.

She continued in a dance towards her home until the water was up to her knees, and then her blonde hair seemed much more like weeds that snagged legs at the bottom of bodies of water. Before her eyes blanched to a subliminal pool of blue, she sunk below, and the leaves on the surface were only slightly moved by the ripples.


End file.
